Messages - your-o-pean

seems that within the top ten "cutthroat' competition is more a function of the class members themselves than of intangible school related factors. given that a michigan law student could just as easily end up at, say, chicago, it may be a bit misleading to determine cutthroat competition based on school character rather than human character. granted, there are slight patterns, and particular schools tend to attract competitive students more so than others, but i think this holds true only when comparing the top 25 or 30. if you're looking just within top ten, my guess is you'll find cutthroat students everywhere, and the concentration in different schools can be quite random from year to year.of course, i could be completely wrong, and i welcome someone to come on here and female dog slap my reasoning skills.

was offered 23k at bc, haven't heard from vandy on fa, and i'm in-state at unc so will likely not get $. if vandy and unc don't provide substantial scholarship/fa, should i take bc's offer? cost of living in boston area is quite high, which means i'd be graduating w/about 75k in debt even w/scholarship. what do you guys think?

This may help as well...go to Princeton Review's law school discussion board (princetonreview.com/law/) and type in keyword "BC" (be sure to adjust the search criteria to include posts dating back several days). There are a bunch of threads with lengthy discussions on BC. I read through it all the other day...seems as though all BC 1Ls love the school.

I came across the same info regarding BC's faculty. Not sure how to interpret, but I think the reputation of faculty has more to do with personal academic accomplishments of each professor, e.g. works published, works cited, undergraduate and law institutions attended. Statistics on law school faculty rarely account for the effectiveness of teaching and satisfaction of students... unfortunate but true. Don't be misled too much here. Talk to BC students and ask them what they think. BC has a great rep in Boston and their grads get great jobs. IMO, you don't need to wait another year to re-apply to comparably ranked schools.

I can't decide which to attend... the indecision is paralyzing! Can anyone make a case for one of these schools without deferring to national rankings? Also, what's BC's reputation outside of Boston?... Vandy's reputation outside of the Southeast? I welcome all advice, opinions. Thanks

I'm in a similar situation and know how you feel. Regarding your choices, I can only offer my personal opinion. I know a good deal about most of the schools you named so hopefully this help. Of course, without knowing more about your interests, preferences, blah, blah, blah...

If you get into UVA, Duke, and Michigan, go to UVA. Next I would choose Michigan, then Duke. If you must decide between your current four, Vanderbilt is your best bet, followed by Northwestern, then UNC. You seem to be quite concerned with academic reputation. That's a good thing, believe me. Good luck, and try not to get too stressed. This is supposed to be the easy part...

btw, I went to school "down the road" from Chapel Hill so I know plenty about the town and school. It's a fun place, but you would be crazy to go there given the choices you have.